What to do with sore muscles

Like many women at the beginning of the year, my muscles are sore from working out. While expanding Nia in the Detroit area, I'm doing more classes and demonstrations. I subbed a class last Tuesday and I'm feeling it!

Unlike other fitness aficionados, I don't like being sore. Sore muscles don't reward me. I don't think, "Wow! I must really be working hard, I hurt! Woo hoo!" I think instead, "How can I get out of this? Warm bath? Arnica? Advil?" If I'm really sore, I can't sleep. And sleep is high on my list of things I need to be a reasonable human being. Before bed, I stretch, I massage my legs, shoulders, and arms with a hand held massager (not one of those), and I take Advil and GABA-calm to relax. Even then, on the nights I'm really sore, I often hear the grandfather clock in the living room strike two, or even three, before I fall asleep. So what to do? I did some research.

Most exercise experts no longer believe that sore muscles are caused by a build up of lactic acid in the muscle. Instead, soreness comes from microscopic tears that occur in the muscle fiber when it's not yet strong enough to do what you are asking of it. That's why I'm sore when I teach more classes, or up the intensity of my dance. When the muscle is torn, it swells, and you experience stiff and sore muscles. How to heal those tears?

Rest. I'm not talking about taking the day off and laying in bed. You can rest the muscles and still work out, just take it easy. Take a walk. Take a Nia class at level one. Ride your bike. Whatever you want to do, but at a level of exertion well below the level that made you hurt. Gently moving the muscles increases the blood flow and helps the muscles to heal.

Topicals. Arnica is good, so is BioFreeze. One article I read online suggested wrapping the muscle in a cloth soaked with cider vinegar. I've never tried that. I think the smell would get to me.

Warm or cold? I don't know. Experts disagree on this one. Cold reduces the swelling in the muscle, but warm feels better. I do know that hot is not good at all. But a warmish bath with some Epsom salts would be just the thing my grandmother would recommend. She liked Epsom salts.

I did read an article suggesting ice baths. Yikes! The writer, who was a runner, suggested putting two or three bags of ice in a tub and then filling the tub with cold water to cover the ice. Then he donned a hat and jacket, gathered some reading material to make the time go by fast (yeah, I wonder what that material was!) and got in the tub for 10 - 20 minutes! This isn't as far fetched as it seems. The athletic club I belonged to in Lansing had a cold tub, and I witnessed people getting in it. I witnessed them getting in as I was relaxing in the hot tub that was next to the cold tub. I know it works; I just don't know how people can stand it. (Unless there's something in that reading material...)

Massage. It hurts so good to have your muscles massaged when they are sore. Self massage works almost as well as a masseuse. Take a look at The Stick at http://www.thestick.com/. Also, bodyrolling balls work great. I got mine at Inspired Wellness on Adams Rd. in Birmingham. Foam rollers are another option. Check out http://www.performbetter.com/. They offer dense foam rollers that last a long time.

Prevention. It's important to warm up the muscles before working out. This is one of the reasons I love Nia. The first two songs warm up the body before we really get moving. But there isn't such a thing as too much warm up. Feel free to come to class early and stretch out before class begins. Stretch more after class ends. If you can, walk or bike to class.

I hate being sore, but I love being strong and fit. And it helps to know that this sore muscles stage is temporary. Eventually, I'll be back in shape.

If you have any tried and true remedies for sore muscles, please feel free to leave them in the comments. We can all use help healing our muscles until they catch up to our fitness goals.